


Possessions

by Daretodream66



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Bucky on the run, But Tony still knows about the Winter Soldier killing his parents, Captain America Steve Rogers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Team as Family, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Winter Soldier Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-16 03:36:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19637170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daretodream66/pseuds/Daretodream66
Summary: Bucky has been running for a few years.  Everything after Age of Ultron didn't happen.  Tony found out about the Winter Soldier killing his parents and has had time to process that.  The team finds Bucky and Steve goes after him then realizes he doesn't want to be found and walks away.





	Possessions

We cling to things. To other people they aren’t important things, just trinkets really that don’t really have any meaning. Except they do, to us. A hat that our son wore until it didn’t fit anymore, a watch that our dad never took off, but handed to us a few days before he died, a certain kind of juice that we drank as a kid, a sea shell that we found while on a particularly good vacation. For Bucky, there are none of these things because everything he had is gone and for so long he was just a tool to use for destruction. Now though, he has time to pause, look around, and think of things he likes or wants.

It started small, a stone that he found while walking home from the market that was curved just right. That stone sits on a shelf in his apartment in Romania. Then it was a picture in a magazine he bought of the New York skyline. He bought a cheap frame and carefully cut it out, hanging it near his bed. He found a magazine that was being discarded behind the library. It’s a tribute to the Avengers after the Battle of New York. Captain America is front and center on the cover. He keeps that next to his bed.

Those things were left behind when he has to run again. He still grieves over their loss. Not because they have value, except to him. They were his, they were possessions, they were links between him and his humanity. He settles in Paris and slowly begins to gather new things, but those original ones still pull at him.

He doesn’t know it, but Natalia carefully packs those possessions into a bag and hands it off to Steve. “He’ll want these back.” It isn’t until Steve is sitting in his apartment, a few days after getting home, that he opens the bag. Steve doesn’t know the significant of those small things until later.

Sometimes Steve sleeps at the Tower because he’s too tired after a mission. He loves his new apartment in Brooklyn, but last night they had come in late. He didn’t have the strength to drive home and Tony always keeps an apartment for him at the Tower for those kinds of nights.

“I think we found him.” Steve looks up at Clint who is followed closely by Tony. “Nat just sent this. She thinks it’s him, but figures you’ll be able to tell.” He throws pictures on the table in front of Steve’s plate. The rest of the team doesn’t understand Steve’s obsession with finding Bucky, but they still try to take care of each other. Sam knows, but doesn’t really talk about it with Steve. Steve thinks Sam knows the real reason it’s so important to Steve, but he never says it out loud. Steve’s thankful for that.

Picking them up, he’s almost afraid to look because he doesn’t want to be disappointed again. He’s not. “Where were these taken?”

Tony, who has been unusually silent through all of this, finally speaks. “Paris.” Steve’s out of his seat and out the door before either man can speak again. Clint and Tony do exchange a look and head to their respective floors. Steve has been a lone wolf kind of guy when it comes to his missing friend, but a team is a team.

Steve and Sam make their way through the streets of Paris a day later. Steve scans the crowds while Sam scans the shops. The pictures were taken in this neighborhood and Natasha keeps watch from the roof of a building nearby. By early evening it doesn’t appear they are going to have much luck. Sam has gone off on a side street and Steve taps his earpiece. “Anything?”

“Sorry Cap, I got nothing.”

“Maybe if you had waited until everyone could join you, you’d have more eyes on the ground.” Nat’s voice might sound teasing to someone else, but Steve hears her agitation.

Before he can answer, Steve’s caught off guard by the second voice. “Come on Cap, it’s Paris, of course we were going to want to tag along.”

“Tony?” The sound of Iron Man’s suit fills the street.

Landing, the face plate melts away and Tony smirks at Steve. “What? A guy can’t help his friend?”

Steve looks suspiciously at him. “You don’t like Bucky. And recently you haven’t been my biggest fan either.” Tony starts to interject, but Steve stops him. “With good reason, which makes this even more suspicious.”

The suit completely melts into the plate on his chest. “True, but you’re my friend and that has to mean something.”

Steve lowers his head. “Thanks Tony.”

Bucky knows they’re here. He had a feeling he was being followed a week ago and standing on his balcony with a scope in his hand, he can see Black Widow on a roof hundreds of yards away. This time, the few possessions that he’s gathered will go with him.

Widow seems to be focused on something on the ground, so Bucky moves the scope and sees a group gathering. He knows Steve and the one with the call sign Falcon. The shorter man is Iron Man and he can’t be here any longer if Tony Stark is in the city. Stark points up to another rooftop and Bucky moves the scope. On the roof opposite Widow is another man that Bucky believes is called Hawkeye.

It’s what happens a few minutes later that has Bucky pause. Steve points in different directions and everyone goes in their indicated paths. Steve walks towards the building that Bucky is in, but doesn’t seem to be looking for him. His shoulders are slumped and he looks defeated. Steve used to be hopeful, youthful in his eagerness to make changes, this man isn’t that. This man is old in ways that he never should have been. Two buildings down from Bucky’s, he sits on a bench. The others are searching, but not Steve. Steve has given up. He’ll let the other’s look, but the way he carries himself lets Bucky know that Steve knows they won’t find him.

He sees Steve’s lips moving, so he zeros the scope on his lips. Lip reading is one of the many things that Hydra taught him. “…so I know you know we’re here. I’m betting you are watching us search uselessly for you. I know that you’ll leave and I’ll lose track of you again. I want you to have your things back. I’m going to leave the bag under the bushes. I won’t look again. I’m sorry I make you want to run. Goodbye Buck.” Steve gets up, placing the backpack under the bushes to the left of the bench. It can’t be seen by the people on the street. Steve goes off in the direction of his friends and doesn’t look back.

Bucky waits for night to fall then using all of his skills, makes his way to the bench, then to the bushes. He finds the bag, unzipping it; he finds his things from the apartment in Romania. Tears spring to his eyes and he looks around to make sure he’s not being watched. Going back up to his apartment, he adds the other things he’s collected to the bag and runs.

The team returns home and Steve goes to his apartment. SHIELD had set him up in a small, dark place that Steve hated, so Sam had helped him find a new place, a place with natural light and extra space. It’s in Brooklyn a few blocks from where he and Bucky shared an apartment so long ago.

Natasha had helped him get all the things he needed, including setting up the spare bedroom in case someone needed a place to crash. To this point, no one had stayed in that room, so Steve just kept the door closed.

Steve’s tired in a way that he hasn’t been in a long while. He doesn’t mind the future, he likes many things about it, but when he found out that Bucky was still alive and how that was possible, he stopped sleeping the way he should. Now, it was an emotional exhaustion that he couldn’t explain to anyone else. Bucky is out there, somewhere, and doesn’t trust anyone enough to let them help.

Steve gets it, really he does, but of all the people out there, it hurts that Bucky doesn’t trust him either. He fixes a cup of tea and goes to shower. By the time he gets out, the tea is cool enough to drink; he sits up in bed and sips the tea while he goes through the news on his StarkPad. Feeling the edge of sleep creeping in on him, he turns out the light and drifts off. It’s restless sleep, but still sleep.

After the lights go out in Steve’s apartment, Bucky eases his way across the rooftops and quietly makes his way to the guest room window. He’s been watching Steve all day and scoped out the layout of the apartment. Slipping the window open, he steps gingerly into the empty room. It’s not much, but the bed is big, there’s a wardrobe on one wall, and shelves by the window. He wasn’t expecting there to be an en suite bath, but it’s a nice surprise.

Once he’s changed into something he can sleep in, he unzips the backpack and puts his some of his things on the shelf by the window. Pulling back the quilt on the bed, he slips between the sheets and settles in. In the distance he can hear cars and the normal noises of the city. It’s familiar without being overwhelming. He thinks of Steve, down the hall, sleeping comfortably and hopes that tomorrow morning this is a good surprise.

The following morning Steve gets up and swears that he smells coffee. Sam has a key to his apartment and sometimes comes over and fixes breakfast. If ever there was a day that he doesn’t really want to deal with questions, today is that day. The serum is a miracle of science, but he’s only human and there’s a throbbing behind his eyes. Getting up, he goes through his morning routine in the bathroom and heads to the kitchen. Maybe Sam won’t ask questions; maybe he just wanted Steve to wake up to coffee.

When he rounds the corner Steve freezes. Standing in his kitchen is…it’s Bucky. He’s sipping coffee and mixing what Steve can only assume is pancake batter. There’s a pan on the stove heating up and Bucky turns to drop butter in the pan. “Bucky?”

As though it’s completely normal that he’s standing in Steve’s kitchen, Bucky turns and smiles. "Mornin sunshine. Thought you might sleep all day.”

His hair is still slightly damp from a shower, the sweatpants his wearing are slung low on his hips, the t-shirt is worn in a way that says comfort, and his feet are bare. He’s the best thing that Steve’s ever seen. “Bucky?”

Bucky quirks a smile again. “You already said that, punk.”

So this is how they are going to play it. “Well, you don’t write, you don’t call…” Even though the words are snarky, Bucky can see the tears gathering in Steve’s eyes and decides to take pity on him.

He opens his arms wide and Steve melts into them. Clinging to his childhood foundation. Steve quietly sobs. Bucky reaches over, turning the stove off. “I’m not him. I may never be him completely.”

Steve’s sobs dissipate to small hiccups. “Don’t care. Just want whoever you want to be to stay here. Don’t go.”

He takes Steve’s hand, dragging him back down the hallway to Bucky’s room. He pulls Steve inside so he can see. What Steve sees punches the breath right out of his lungs. All of the little things that are Bucky’s most prize possessions litter the room on the shelf, on the bedside table. Bucky’s clothes, what little there are, hang in the open wardrobe. The bed is unmade with pillows and blankets in disarray. “I’m not leaving. I live here now.”

Steve throws himself back into Bucky’s arms. “Thank you.”

Bucky pulls back, looking confused. “What the hell are ya thankin me for?”

Steve smiles softly. “For trusting me a little.” Bucky heads back to the kitchen to finish breakfast. Steve follows like a puppy. “Just so you know, I’m not him anymore either.”

“No kidding. That’s why I’m stayin.”

Bucky’s known that from watching him. That old Steve never would have left Bucky in Paris. He would have hunted him down and forced a confrontation. This guy, this big, blond pain in the ass, he walked away and never expected to see Bucky again. He accepted that Bucky needed space and gave it to him. This guy is a guy that Bucky can trust. So, as he sits the finished pancakes in front of his new, old friend, he brushes his fingers over Steve’s.


End file.
